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Here we go again …

Jonathan. No it wasn’t Queenie, it was No 11 – and that spells trouble. Same trouble as last year. I found her and the two lambs this morning easily enough, she was standing there shouting at them to follow her: which no doubt they would have done gladly enough had she actually fed them some time in the past 12 hours. The problem is that No 11 previously had mastitis in one udder, which since then has been out of action. The other udder is – understandably at such a time – bloated with milk, but is in functioning condition, and indeed I got hold of her and checked. But it’s not just about capability it’s attitude: she could just about look after twins with just one functioning udder, and certainly one, but she just doesn’t seem to have the patience. It was the same last year: she had twins, but ran around bleating as if they were lost, yet in fact they were just by her, standing weakly, shaking from cold, and wasting away from hunger. We keep No 11 because she reliably produces twins, but this is the third year she’s failed to look after even one. No doubt I’ll keep her, but yet again, I’ve had to pick up the twins and bring them home to raise as ‘pet lambs’ Right now, they’re small and weak, but they’ll pick up just fine, and repay us in the end. Denise seems to enjoy looking after them as much as I do, though they can be a nuisance as they grow – getting under your feet all the time! So home they came with me, and I had only just enough time to get some cholustrum formula into them (via feeding syringe and tube) before heading north for the ferry to Harris for the day. That’s life in Uist!